Apparatus for conditioning the temperature of a bath



July 18, 1961 P. HAAKE 2,993,108

APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING THE TEMPERATURE OF A BATH -H- 40 Q /6 I PETER HAAKE United States Patent 2,993,108 APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING THE TEMPERA- TURE OF A BATH Peter Haake, 27 Siemensstrasse, Berlin-Steglitz, Germany Filed Dec. "31, 1959, Ser. No. 863,149 Claims priority, application Germany Jan. 3, 1959 Claims. (Cl. 21939) My invention relates to an apparatus for conditioning the temperature of a bath and more particularly to an apparatus for that purpose including a motor-driven pump and a temperature-conditioning element, such as a heating element, disposed within the stream of liquid sucked by the pump from the bath and fed back thereto and controlled by a thermostat disposed within the stream of liquid issuing from the temperature-conditioning element and being returned to the bath.

Apparatus of this type affords a possibility of conditioning the liquid of a voluminous bath at all points of its volume with great accuracy to a selected temperature, since the circulation of the liquid effected by the pump causes the liquid cooled or heated at the walls of the vat containing the bath and at the surface of the bath to be promptly returned into heat exchange relationship to the temperature conditioning element to be brought to the selected temperature, the circulation of the Water causing the bath to be continuously thoroughly agitated throughout its volume, thereby rendering the temperature prevailing in the bath substantially uniform.

It is the primary object of my invention to provide an improved apparatus of the kind indicated hereinabove in which the temperature-conditioning element and the thermostat are accommodated in a sheltered position for protection from damage.

It is anoter object of my invention to provide an apparatus of the type indicated hereinabove which is of simple and rugged structure and may be manufactured at a low cost.

Further objects of my invention will appear from a detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is in no way restricted to such details but is capable of numerous modifications within the scope of the appended claims and that the terms and phrases used in such detailed description have been chosen for the purpose of explaining rather than that of restricting or limiting my invention.

In the accompanying drawings in which a preferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated,

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along a vertical central plane, and,

FIG. 2 is a transverse horizontal section taken along the line IIII of FIG. 1, the thermostat and the pump shaft being omitted in FIG. 2.

My novel apparatus for conditioning the temperature of a bath comprises an elongated upright housing 10 having a portion immersed into a bath of water or other liquid contained in a vat 23, the housing being provided with internal partitions forming a flat first chamber 20 located directly above the bottom 19 of the housing 10, a second chamber 16 and a third chamber 15, both disposed above the first chamber 20, and a fourth chamber 17 located above the second chamber 16. The partition 12 separating the first chamber 20 from the second chamber 16 is provided with a central port. A vertical shaft 21 extends from the first chamber 20' through said port and through said second chamber 16 into the third chamber 17. A centrifugal pump rotor 22 is disposed in the first chamber 20' and is fixed to the lower end of the shaft 21. An electric motor 27 is disposed in the fourth Patented July 18, 1961 chamber 17 and is connected to the upper end of the shaft 21 for driving same. The outside wall of the housing 10 is provided with a plurality of inlet openings, such as 28, leading into the second chamber 16 and with two outlet openings 30 and 31 leading out of the first chamber 20'. The outlet opening 30 is directed horizontally, while the outlet opening 31 is directed downwardly.

A suitable temperature-conditioning element, such as an electrical heating element 29, is disposed in the second chamber 16 between the inlet opening 28 and the port provided in the partition 12. A thermostat 33 is disposed in the third chamber 15 and extends into the first chamber 20 at a point located between the pump 22 and the horizontally directed outlet opening 30. Therefore, the thermostat is responsive to the temperature of the stream of liquid fed by the pump rotor 22 through the outlet opening 30. This thermostat controls the heating element 29 in a manner which is well known in the art and, therefore, need not be described in detail. The outside wall of the housing is provided with a plurality of sockets and attaching means, such as a bracket 26, are inserted in a selected one of the sockets for attaching the housing 10 in upright position to the upper edge of the wall 23 of the vat containing the bath. In the embodiment shown the bracket 26 has an arcuate member provided with three pins 26 which are sprung into suitable holes forming the sockets provided in the wall of the housing 10. Preferably, there are three sets of such sockets provided at different elevations. In this manner I may so fix the bracket 26 to the housing as to hold same at any desired elevation.

Preferably, the housing is formed by a pair of sections joined to each other along a plane coinciding with the plane of FIG. 1 and containing the axis of the shaft 21. The sections are preferably molded of a suitable polymerised material.

The housing may be provided with at least one tubular projection 32 surrounding one of the outlet openings, for instance the outlet opening 30. This projection affords a possibility of connecting a hose to the housing for the purpose of directing the stream of temperatureconditioned liquid to any desired point of the vat.

The shaft 21 is preferably journaled in a suitable bearing aperture provided in the horizontal partition 13 separating the chambers :16 and 17 from each other and the lower end of the shaft 21 may be journaled in a suitable bearing depression provided in the lower end wall 19 of the housing.

Preferably, my novel apparatus is so mounted on the vat 23 as to be immersed into the bath to be controlled and that its lower end wall 19 is suitably spaced from the bottom of the vat. When the rotor 22 provided with suitable vanes is driven by the electric motor 27, the pump rotor sucks the liquid through the port provided in the partition 12, the stream of liquid entering the chamber 16 throgh the inlet openings 28. The temperature of the stream of liquid entering therethrough is raised by the heating element 2.9 to the desired temperaturecontrolled by a thermostat 33. The heated liquid is ejected by the pump rotor 22 through the outlet openings 30 and 31.

In the embodiment shown the thermostat 33 is a rodshaped element inserted in the chamber 15 and having its lower end projecting through a suitable opening of the partition 12 into the first chamber 20. Therefore, the thermostat is directly responsive to the temperature of the stream fed by the pump rotor 20 towards the outlet opening 30. The thermostat 33 is connected by wires 35 with means which controls the heating element 29 and may include an electrical relay. As such means is well known in the art, it has been indicated diagrammatically only as a box 36,

The two sections of the housing may be connected with each other by any suitable means, for instance by an adhesive or by threaded bolts. The sections of the housing will hold :theelernents 211, 22,27, 29 and 33' in their operative position.

In the embodiment shown the arcuate bracket element 2 6 has a substantially horizontal stern integral therewith on which a member 24 is clamped in any desired position by a clamping screw, the member 24 engaging over the upper edge of the side wall of the vat 23.

From the foregoing it will be seen that this invention is one well adapted to attain all of the ends and objects hereinabove set forth, together with other advantages which are obvious and Which are inherent to the apparatus.

While the invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that it is capable of further modification, and this application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention following, in general, the principles of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which the invention pertains, and as fall within the scope of the invention or the limits of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for conditioning the temperature of a bath comprising a housing immersed into said bath and provided with an inlet and an outlet for the liquid of said bath, a pump in said housing mounted to feed a stream of liquid entering said housing through said inlet towards and out of said outlet, an electric motor in said housing and connected with said pump for the operation thereof, a temperature-conditioning element mounted within said housing in heat exchange relationship with said stream, a thermostat carried by said housing and mounted therein to be responsive to the temperature of the liquid fed out of said outlet, and means connected with said thermostat for controlling said temperature conditioning element.

2. Apparatus for conditioning the temperature of a bath comprising a housing having a portion immersed into said bath and provided with an inlet and at a distance therefrom with an outlet for the liquid of said bath, a pump disposed in said housing above the bottom thereof for sucking a stream of liquid through said inlet into said housing and for feeding said stream through said outlet out of said housing, a temperature-conditioning element mounted within said housing above said pump between the latter and said inlet in heat exchange relationship with said stream, an electric motor in said housing above said temperaturaconditioning element and connected with said pump for the operation thereof, a thermostat carried by said housing and mounted therein to be responsive to the temperature of the liquid fed out of said outlet, and means connected with said thermostat for controlling said temperature conditioning element.

3. Apparatus for conditioning the temperature of a bath comprising a housing haw'ng a portion immersed into said bath and including a first chamber above the bottom of said housing and a second chamber above said first chamber, said first chamber being provided with an outlet opening and said second chamber being provided with an inlet opening, said housing being further provided with a port establishing a communication between said chambers, a pump accommodated by said first chamber and mounted to suck a stream of liquid through said inlet opening into said second chamber and therefrom through said port into said first chamber and out of said outlet opening into said bath, a temperature-conditioning element mounted within said second chamber in heat-exchange relationship to said stream, an electric motor mounted within said housing above said temperature-conditioning element and cooperatively connected with said pump for driving same, a thermostat carried by said housing and mounted therein in heatexchange relationship with said stream between said pump and said outlet opening to be responsive to the temperature of said stream, and means connected with said thermostat for controlling said temperature conditioning element.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 in which said housing is provided with a third chamber above said first chamber, said thermostat being mounted in said third chamber and extending therefrom into said first chamber.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 in which said pump is a centrifugal pump.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said housing is provided with a plurality of sockets, said apparatus further comprising attaching means inserted into a selected one of said sockets for attachment to the edge of a vat containing said bath.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 in which said outlet opening is disposed horizontally, said first chamber being provided with a second downwardly facing outlet openmg.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 in which said housing is provided with at least one tubular projection surrounding one of said outlet openings.

9. Apparatus for conditioning the temperature of a bath comprising an elongated upright housing having a portion immersed into said bath and being provided with internal partitions forming a flat first chamber directly above the bottom of said housing, a second chamber and a third chamber, both disposed above said first chamber, and a fourth chamber above said second chamber, one of said partitions separating said first chamber from said second chamber being provided with a port, a vertical shaft extending from said first chamber through said port and through said second chamber into said third cham ber, a centrifugal pump rotor disposed in said first chamher and fixed to the lower end of said shaft, an electric motor disposed in said fourth chamber and connected to the upper end of said shaft for driving same, the outside Wall of said housing being provided with an inlet opening leading into said second chamber and with two outlet openings leading out of said first chamber, one of said outlet openings being directed downwardly, an electrical heating element disposed in said second chamber between said inlet opening and said port, a thermostat disposed in said third chamber for controlling said heating element, said thermostate extending into said first chamber at a point located between said pump and the horizontally directed one of said outlet openings to be responsive to the temperature of the stream of liquid fed by said pump through said last mentioned outlet opening, the outside wall of said housing being provided with a plurality of sockets, and attaching means inserted in a selected one of said sockets for attaching said housing in upright position to the upper edge of the wall of a vat containing said bath.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 in which said housing is formed by a pair of sections joined to each other along a plane containing the axis of said shaft and consists of a polymerised molded material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,442,858 Claypoole Jan. 23, 1923 2,037,993 Miller et al Apr. 21, 1936 2,227,938 Krebs Jan. 7, 1941 

